We're going to start beta-testing (closed test) in July, which means that we spent June tweaking and balancing questlines and don't really have anything interesting to say. The next month update will have first impressions and such, but this one will have to be pretty boring, unless you really like reading updates.

The focus is on the options, choices, and paths now. There is a truckload of them. If you thought that Teron had a lot of options, you're going to be overwhelmed with what we have in store for you now. More characters, more quests, more options, more scheming, more reactivity, more opportunities to fuck things up. I rarely speak with excitement about my own work, but I'm very proud of how everything turned out and came together.

The Abyss evolved into a great area. It's very different from what you've seen so far. Most locations have fairly 'realistic' atmosphere - people squabbling, scheming, plotting, and murdering each other over nothing. Not a lot of fantasy there. Now, the game IS a fantasy RPG and in the Abyss you'll get the first taste of it.

I asked Scott to go over the Abyss doc and breathe his magic into the words. He seemed to like it: "I really like this one, especially the end. It's a great idea, bringing together the history and the ultimate realization of a violent and amoral world. You've created the anti-Chosen One."

Anyway, some excerpts:

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"You continue to pick your way through the rubble until your ears prick up at an unpleasant groaning sound ahead. You come upon an erect cross of heavy timber. A man is hanging from the structure on four great black nails, and he is still alive, moaning loudly. Well, you were looking for a cross, although this isn’t exactly what you expected.

“Kill me,” begs the man. Looking down at a sudden weight pulling on your hand, you realize you are holding a sword. Kill him. Free him. ...

You manage to wrestle the man down from the cross and pour him some water. Before your eyes his wounds vanish and his color returns. The man rises, stronger and taller than you had supposed. You could have sworn that he was your height and now he towers over you like a giant. Angrily, he lifts you by the throat and flings you away like a child discarding a doll. You roll in the dirt and dust and bits of stone, clutching your smashed trachea. If you had known it to be your dying breath, you would at least have filled your lungs…

When you open your eyes, you find yourself lying under the cross. Where the man had been, a skeleton now hangs. It is yellow with age and has hung undisturbed for a very long time. "

^ 'tis a cautionary tale.

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[success] The console is beyond your understanding, so you place your faith in the mantras. Of course, the problem with mantras is that you have no way to know which one will apply. You try the Mantra of Suspending The Ordinary Functioning Of, which you thought was a safe bet until you realize that it requires you to replace one function with another. Next, you try the Mantra of Divine Guidance only to realize midway that you’re missing the famed golden arrows to which it frequently refers. With desperation hanging over you like a dark cloud, you finally decide to attempt the Mantra of Actions and Reactions. This bloated text has been enlarged by generations of philosophers eager to add their mark to history, and for this reason is ignored by more reputable loremasters. Continue.Just as you are working through the last instructions of the Mantra of Actions and Reactions, the console begins to respond, confirming that you have chosen the correct text. This mantra focuses on things that act and things that react, suggesting that the right sequence can cause a chain reaction. By following the directives in the correct order, you believe you can either initiate these reactions within the three dead machines, or power down the last working machine.

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Your body floats in a void endless and absolute, a darkness beyond light or hope. Your mind dreams. You have dreamed for a very long time, months, or perhaps years. The dreams are vivid, alien, often terrifying and very real. If not for their outlandish nature, you would not be certain they are dreams at all.

At the end of this eternity, you are awakened. You scream in torment as a vital part of you is torn free and discarded, not from your body, but from your very soul. The agony is unbearable, the wound fatal. You feel the cold of deepest night. You are dying, at least a part of you is. But another part seems to be waking.

You open your eyes and find yourself closely confined. You see the inside of a tank filled with water, a tiny window above. Unfamiliar faces look down at you through the glass. They are smiling to each other, pleased. You reach toward them, but not with your hand. You are reaching with your mind, with pure will, with an instinct that is not your own, that is not, in fact, human.

Hope you'll like the rest. Now, here are some shots of Maadoran and the mountain pass (will be included in the upcoming release).

Edit: Bass has a bigger role to play than greeting you, so he has a portrait, which sadly isn't in the game's folders for some reasons (just realized it, but don't have time to retake the shots).

The Noble District

The Market

The Arena that should be well familiar to the veterans of the arena demo

The mountain pass (think like George R.R. Martin's Wall but scaled down a bit)

------------------------------------------=====================---------------------------------------"Merely killing those being mean to me. It's not my fault it's everyone in the world of AoD". (Vahhabyte)

Holy crap! How many times can I be re-surprised at the visuals? Especially the Mountain Pass. I'm guessing testers will be able to start with experienced characters and established faction reps in the next beta test, instead of replaying Teron?

Holy crap! How many times can I be re-surprised at the visuals? Especially the Mountain Pass. I'm guessing testers will be able to start with experienced characters and established faction reps in the next beta test, instead of replaying Teron?

Yep, the private testing will be Maadoran only with pre-built characters.

Logged

"Hasta la victoria, siempre."

"Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have it?"

Holy crap! How many times can I be re-surprised at the visuals? Especially the Mountain Pass. I'm guessing testers will be able to start with experienced characters and established faction reps in the next beta test, instead of replaying Teron?

Yep, the private testing will be Maadoran only with pre-built characters.

"A little while ago, a good friend's wife asked me what playing Dungeons & Dragons involved. Long story short, it turns out that it's basically improv without an audience or time pressure, and a lot of rules. Every time anyone wants to attempt something, it's basically subject to a referee. Who is incidentally trying to kill you. In a fair and impartial manner." - Priapist